Kimberly Cole: ‘You don’t know the half of it’

Kimberly Cole is one of the most remarkable individuals you could ever hope to meet. She is an ideal, polished to absolute perfection. Her beauty and dazzle are genuine and radiate from her heart, making Cole a natural-born influencer. She has been a buzzmaker for SpinnMedia and Buzznet and is a highly sought-after talent who has worked with such brands as Rimmel London, Guess, Coach, Cross Pens, Degree, and Suave. Coming up, Kimberly is slated to be the face of the only energy drink sophisticated enough to deserve her favor, the elegant Louis XIV Energy.

A few years ago, Cole’s sparkling personality, quick wit, penchant for upbeat conversation, and keen fashion sense landed her a spot on StyleHaul’s “FM (fashion + music).” For each episode, she would spend the day with a different artists such as Jay Sean, Iggy Azalea, Alexa Rae Joel, Kat Graham, Skylar Grey, or genius dancer Keith Apicary, offering real insight into the world that these individuals live in.

But beyond all the glitz and glamour of the celebrity lifestyle, at her core, Kimberly Cole is an artist. She has studied dance, piano, voice, and theater, and she is a champion professional artistic roller skater. Early in her career as a pop star, after opening for Katy Perry, Kimberly was declared “Buzzworthy” by MTV. Her single, “Smack You,” was featured throughout season 5 of Oxygen Network’s “Bad Girls Club” and it climbed all the way up to No. 4 on the Billboard “Hot Dance Club Songs” chart. Additionally, her music – along with Kimberly, herself – appeared on FOX TV’s “Dollhouse” starring Eliza Dushku.

Since then, Cole has gone on to create a phenomenal body of work and shared the stage with such notable artists as LMFAO, Lupe Fiasco, Cobra Starship, and Shiny Toy Guns. She spent nearly two full months on a tour in China and has also toured Japan and Korea.

Even at the start, when she was crafting her infectious, upbeat dance gems “Smack You” and “U Make Me Wanna,” Kimberly infused her songs with smart writing, sharp wit, and a sense of fun. She told real stories in a way that truly connected with her fans and earned her millions of followers on social media.

But in a recent interview with AXS, Kimberly expressed, “I’ve been through some sh**! My life has turned itself upside down and I’ve been through some tragedies... but everyone has. And, as they say, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ I am so thankful that I’m a writer because it’s an outlet for me. With this new music that’s coming out soon, some people might think that there was a team of executives saying, ‘Okay, we need to rebrand her,’ but nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve just lived life.”

“I have my armor, absolutely!” she acknowledged. “We all have to protect ourselves because nobody wants to get hurt, we’re all operating out of not getting hurt. In one of my new songs I say, ‘You don’t know the half of it, only what I let you see,’ and that’s true. But you’re going to see more, little by little, I’m going to give you more. I grew up in a body that happens to be an artist, and we are different creatures, we can’t help but be open.”

Delving deeper into the person behind the persona, Kimberly is driven. She is self-made and she works tirelessly around the clock for her art. Given the option of either going to some posh Hollywood party to hobnob with her fellow celebrities or locking herself in the studio all night long to work on her next track, Cole would likely choose the studio.

“Being an artist can be really lonely sometimes,” she confessed. “I have managers and I have DJs and I just got back from Korea and I had a whole crew and an entourage. I do have musicians and producers who have been with me from the start. But at the end of the day, I’m not in a band, I’m the boss. It’s just me. And it’s tough. You really have to get up every single day and believe in yourself. You have to have the guts to look in that mirror every morning and say, ‘I am not giving up!’”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Kimberly laughed, “I am a girl. I like to have fun, I love feeling sexy, I like nice clothes, I love getting facials, and I love being pampered. But I’m not in this to be famous, I want people to hear my music. I want people to be touched by it because there are a lot of artist who have touched my soul and I would like to do that for someone else.”

AXS was given an exclusive advance listen to Kimberly’s upcoming music. It is elegant, cinematic, scintillating, and provocative. The tracks live and breathe with a thrilling vitality. And her voice has never sounded better. Cole’s life experiences have bled into her vocals, seasoning her tone with an intriguing dash of grit, making her performances fiercely sensual. Her lyrics are crisp and inspired. Kimberly is one of very few writers who can ride that line between pop and poetry because her trademark edgy word choice is ever tempered with astute observations and that aforementioned sharp wit.

“A lot of really good stuff has been happening. I’ve received a lot of good news over the past few months, so I’ve got some great things on the horizon and I’m excited,” Kimberly expressed. “When that happens, I almost want to cry because it means all of my hard work is paying off. But I am always very humble... very, very humble for good news. I do communicate with a lot of my fans online and if someone says something nice, I can’t just read it and think, ‘Cool, you like my music,’ I am absolutely humbled. Every time.”

Kimberly is currently finishing up her latest album. Be sure to follow her on social media to catch sneak peeks and hints at what is coming in 2016. In closing, Cole teased: “a whole new year, a whole new artist.”

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